Government Consultation on Expanding Access to Naloxone

Onkar Sahota: Did the Metropolitan Police respond to the Government’s recent consultation on expanding access to Naloxone?

The Mayor: The MPS did not submit a formal written response to the Government’s consultation on Naloxone but are actively consulting with the Department of Health and Social Care, MOPAC and other key stakeholders in deciding whether to roll out Naloxone wider to frontline police officers. Currently, Naloxone is available in all custody suites for use by trained medical staff. The MPS has established a working group which will meet shortly to gather expert views and evidence. Additionally, the MPS is seeking to identify a pilot site.

Ride Along Scheme

Shaun Bailey: In the past year, how many people have participated in the Met's Ride Along Scheme?

The Mayor: The Met’s Ride Along scheme offers members of the public the opportunity to accompany officers on patrol and experience first-hand how stop and search may be used. The scheme enables two-way learning and helps create greater understanding and closeness between the police and the public.
As of 8 October, 18 people are recorded centrally as having participated in this scheme (noting that the Covid period only allowed Ride Alongs in exceptional circumstances).
Now restrictions are reduced, the backlog of applicants is being addressed as a priority, and a new Ride Along coordinator has been recruited (starting December 2021).

Domestic Violence funding

Susan Hall: Please list all of the Domestic Violence charities/organisations that have received money from your office, MOPAC or the VRU since you entered office in 2016 and please include the amounts received.

The Mayor: Please see attached table.

The Mayor: MQ 2021-4572.xlsx

Proscribed group arrests

Susan Hall: For each year Dec 15 to Nov 16, Dec 16 to Nov 17, Dec 17 to Nov 18, Dec 18 to Nov 19, Dec 19 to Nov 20 and Dec 20 to Nov 21, how many people were arrested for being members of proscribed groups by the Met, broken down by group?

The Mayor: Arrest figures for the offence of ‘membership of a proscribed organisation’ (contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act, 2000) are as follows.
The figures are provided on a calendar year basis i.e., January – December.
Year
Count of Date of Arrest
2015
0
2016
0
2017
4
2018
3
2019
12
2020
4
2021
3
Total
(2015 – 21)
26
SO15 Counter Terrorism Command do not provide details of which groups the individuals arrested were suspected of belonging to.
To note, the figures above relate solely to the specified offence. These figures do not capture arrests for other offences under the Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2006.

Drugging offences (2)

Emma Best: What are you doing to tackle rising drugging offences in London?

The Mayor: I am committed to taking action to improve safety for all Londoners day and night, including tackling drink and needle spiking.
The MPS works closely with the Safer Business Network to deliver Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement (WAVE) training for venues, which provides staff with the skills to identify vulnerability, perpetrators of crime and provide an appropriate response primarily focused around supporting vulnerable individuals. The training also promotes the refreshed Ask for Angela campaign, which gives those on a night out a discreet way to get the help they need if they feel unsafe.

Drill music

Caroline Russell: At the 17 November 2021 Police and Crime Committee meeting, the Deputy Commissioner said that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) did not want to be the ‘culture police.’ How is the MPS ensuring that it treats drill music in a way that is proportionate and does not stifle cultural expression?

The Mayor: Any form of music can have a profoundly positive impact, particularly on the lives of young people, often giving those making it something to focus on; growing out of their experiences and environment.
In relation to drill music videos, the aim of the Met is solely to prevent serious violence on the streets of London by identifying and removing content in videos which incites or encourages gang violence. The Met continue to work to better understand the reality of the links between online activity and real-world, offline offending and links to criminality. The Met work closely with all social media companies to act quickly to remove the most harmful material; those that contain a threat to another group or individual which could escalate to real-world violence. This does not involve a trawl of all drill videos, but is instead led by content referred, or which the Met becomes aware of through gang-associations.
Close partnership working is a key part of how the Met address this going forward, and the Met will continue to work with a range of partners to explore how they can effectively tackle the issue.

Technology waste

Zack Polanski: How many technological devices and accessories, such as mobile phones, computers, tablets, laptops and charging cables, has the GLA discarded since 2018 via recycling services and general waste? Could you provide this broken down by number of units disposed of by year and method.

The Mayor: The GLA uses a specialist equipment disposal service (Restore) that take all our old IT equipment (equipment that has either reached the end of its usable lifecycle or has been replaced as part of a corporate upgrade), wipes the devices of all data (in line with data protection legislation) and either disposes of the equipment (in line with environmental guidelines), or seeks to reuse the equipment – through its relationship with schools and charities. Below are details of the equipment processed by Restore. No IT items are discarded through general waste. These figures include equipment from the GLA, MOPAC and OPDC.
2018
2019
2020
2021
Totals
Desktop
102
66
267
405
840
Hard Drives
247
5
0
704
956
Laptop
36
15
11
132
194
Misc. e.g. adapters, cameras, projectors
82
70
1
132
285
Mobile phones - including Blackberry Devices
32
15
19
192
258
Monitor
346
66
227
401
1040
Network
20
8
24
311
363
Printers
12
8
1
31
52
Servers
29
3
0
40
72
Desk Phones
5
2
0
594
601
Total
911
258
550
2942
4661

Drugs Testing Facilities

Emma Best: Why will you not look at increased drug testing facilities or encouraging these in London?

The Mayor: I recognise that there can be value to the work being done in testing drugs in the night-time economy, particularly the opportunities it provides for community engagement and public education. However, there are other ways of achieving our shared goal of reducing drug-related health harms, including encouraging people to seek medical help without the fear of criminal repercussions for doing so; availability of medical assistance in night-time venues; and staff training. There has been good work in London to reduce drug related harms in venues, and the MPS is working closely with health partners to achieve this.
I am always open to innovative practice informed by a strong evidence base to reduce harms caused by drug misuse and MOPAC officers continue to monitor best practice in this area and the experiences and activities of other Mayors and PCCs across England.

FOIs

Shaun Bailey: For each year Dec 15 to Nov 16, Dec 16 to Nov 17, Dec 17 to Nov 18, Dec 18 to Dec 19, Nov 19 to Dec 20 and Nov 20 to Dec 21 how many FOI requests made to the Met were resolved within 20 working days and what was the corresponding total number of FOIs?

The Mayor: 4935_FOIs (1).xlsx